London, February 2: The United Kingdom (UK) will be the world's first country to introduce laws against AI tools used to produce sex abuse images of children. The new legislation, announced on Saturday by Interior Minister Yvette Cooper, would make it an offence to have, create, or distribute AI-generated child sexual abuse material with a maximum punishment of five years in prison.

In addition, having AI "paedophile manuals" that will teach the exploitation of AI for child abuse will attract up to three years in prison, AFP reported. These are a response to the emerging threat of AI in online child sexual abuse and grooming. This is a disturbing phenomenon. AI is amplifying the problem, making it easier for perpetrators to manipulate images and groom children for further abuse," Cooper said, stressing the seriousness of these technologies. Child Porn on OnlyFans: Investigator Reports 26 Suspected Underage Accounts on Adult Website, Prompting Removal of Content Featuring Child Sex Abuse.

AI Child Sex Abuse Tools To Be Criminalised in UK

The new law will also target websites that provide information about sharing child abuse content or grooming children for future abuse, carrying penalties of up to ten years in prison for those running such sites. The legislation will be included in the Crime and Policing Bill, which will combat the growing usage of AI tools that "nudeify" images of children or digitally superimpose their faces on inappropriate material. ‘Sex for Shifts’ Scandal Rocks McDonald’s UK: Pressure Mounts on Fast Food Giant As Teen Employees Claim Managers Offered Extra Work Hours in Exchange for Sex.

The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) reported the sharp rise in AI-generated child sexual abuse images, citing a 10% increase in the most severe category of images within one year. In the 30 days of 2024, over 3,500 such images were found by IWF analysts on a single dark website. Minister Cooper urged other countries to follow Britain’s lead in tackling this critical issue, saying, “Other countries are not yet doing this, but I hope everyone else will follow.”

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 02, 2025 06:51 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).